Forest The forest surrounding the lake has been actively logged since the early 20th century. This is most noticeable north of Rabbit Point, where the forest still has not fully grown back after nearly a century. On the western shore just north of Rabbit Point, lies a 491 hectare area that has never been touched by logging, and has become the Rabbit Lake West Conservation Reserve. The reserve is the least known and the most untouched of its kind in Ontario. This old growth stand is closer to the original Temagami Boreal forest than even the
White Bear Forest to the north.
Ecosystem Like the other lakes in the region, Rabbit Lake is an oligotrophic ecosystem. While the fish population has steadily declined over the years, the lake is still home to
pike,
walleye,
trout,
whitefish,
perch,
bass, etc.
Geology The lands surrounding the lake are part of the
Canadian Shield, the largest single exposure of
Precambrian rocks in the world which were formed after the Earth's crust cooled. The hills in the Temagami area are remnants of the oldest
mountain range in
North America that date back during the
Precambrian era. These heavily eroded
mountains would have rivaled the
Himalayas in grandeur. The uplifting was accomplished as enormous pressure caused the earth to buckle in a process called
folding. Other processes, such as
volcanic activity and
geologic faulting in which the earth cracks open also contributed to the formation of these mountains. Over millions of years, these enormous mountains were gradually eroded to the land we know today in Temagami. While Rabbit Lake is a fairly quiet lake dotted with
cottages, the forest is continually
logged and the threat of
mining is looming ever closer with the discovery of
kimberlite, a
volcanic rock notable as a
diamond indicator. This in turn forms part of the
Temagami Greenstone Belt, an
Archean greenstone belt characterized by
felsic-
mafic volcanic rocks. == Hollywood ==